Two brothers who murdered an 87-year-old widower during a ‘vicious’ robbery at his home are facing life behind bars.
Amos Wilsher, 29, and Jason Wilsher, 22, left retired businessman Arthur Gumbley with a brain injury and broken ribs after ransacking his bungalow in Little Aston, Staffordshire.
Mr Gumbley died in hospital on December 12, 2017, three weeks after the break-in.
Amos Wilsher was also convicted of a second count of murder over the death of Josephine Kay, 88.
He arrived at her home in Stoke-on-Trent posing as a gas firm worker before stealing a safe containing £20,000, jurors heard.
The Irish-born widow – who was just 4ft 8in tall and lived alone – suffered a broken leg and died in hospital three weeks after her ordeal on February 27, 2020.
The brothers denied murder but were convicted after a trial at Coventry Crown Court.
They were both convicted of further charges of conspiracy to rob and wounding with intent relating to another raid on 82-year-old Dennis Taylor’s home near Bolsover, Derbyshire, four days after Mr Gumbley was attacked.
The brothers had travelled from the Tibshelf area of Derbyshire in a bid to hunt down ‘easy targets’, prosecutor Simon Denison QC told the court.
They and a third accomplice smashed a window in the kitchen of Mr Gumbley’s home to gain entry before punching him in the face, knocking him to the floor.
‘They kicked him in the shoulder and back, dragged him through his house, they ripped his watch from his wrist, tearing the fragile skin from the back of his hand,’ Mr Denison said.
‘They ransacked his house, and they took money, items of jewellery that had belonged to his late wife, and a number of antique items that he had accumulated over the course of his long life.’
The injuries sustained were ‘too much for his body to withstand’, the prosecutor added.
Mr Gumbley’s family agreed to release pictures of his badly bruised face and body for media appeals to catch his killers.
Meanwhile Mr Taylor suffered a broken nose and fractures to his fingers after being targeted by three masked robbers who travelled to his isolated farmhouse in a Mazda RX8.
He was thrown to the ground, jabbed in the face with a knife and hit with a baseball bat and walking stick by the gang, who escaped with cash, watches and jewellery.
The court heard Amos Wilsher threatened Mrs Kay with a screwdriver – with DNA on the weapon used to link him to the brutal killing.
‘She was attacked in her home on that Thursday evening by one man, acting alone,’ Mr Denison said.
‘He repeatedly threw her to the ground, he dragged her through her home and he threatened her with a screwdriver.
‘He found her safe in a cupboard and demanded that she tell him the code, which she couldn’t do.’
Amos Wilsher was arrested at spa hotel in Lincoln two weeks after attacking Mrs Kay.
Jason Wilsher was originally found guilty of Mr Gumbley’s murder in 2019 – but was granted a retrial.
Both men have been remanded in custody and will be sentenced at a later date.
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